Mother arrested, charged with neglect, recklessness

STARKE COUNTY, IN (WSBT/CNN) - A mother faces charges of neglect of a dependent and criminal recklessness after police say she left her 1-year-old daughter in a cold car while she spent time inside a bar.

Tiffany Helbling, 29, was arrested at O’s Tap in Knox, IN, after bystanders noticed the baby girl in the car, according to Police Chief Harold Smith.

Smith says the baby was sleeping in a soaked diaper, and there was no food or bottle in the diaper bag inside the car. The temperature at the time was 25 degrees.

Medics checked over the child, who was released to her father.

Helbling told police she and her male companion took turns checking on the baby, claiming the 1-year-old had only been left alone for 20 minutes.

Other bar patrons told police it had been around 90 minutes to two hours.

Police are reviewing the bar’s surveillance video to see how long Helbling was inside.

According to campus police, it started with a verbal altercation between the assailant and the alleged victim, who is not a student at the school. The confrontation became physical when he pulled out his phone, and the assailant knocked it from his hand before punching him.